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What to buy for £1000.

acearchie

acearchie

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Jan 15, 2006
3,264
104
I currently have a powerbook 12" G4 but I am constantly having to borrow my sisters macbook or my dad's iMac to use Final Cut.

I am interested in getting into proper editing and have already done a couple of short films with a view to do more but that have been done on a macbook with pretty slow rendering etc.

I already have a nice dell 24" 1920x1080 monitor which i bought last christmas.

I have basically picked up a job in a pub and after a lot of work I have raised £1000.

For editing with a view to start some motion and colour (i.e. not just final cut 6) what machine would be best for me?

A used Mac Pro/Macbook/Macbook Pro

A new macbook???

Any help would be great!

Thanks
 
You might be able to get a 4-Core 2.66 first generation Mac Pro within your budget. The advantages to the Mac Pro architecture really set it apart from the iMacs, MacBook Pros and MacBooks given that all three use notebook parts and architecture.

Come to think of it, you might be able to get an original 8-Core. Under Snow Leopard, that would really be pretty good.

You own Final Cut already? That alone would eat up most of your budget before getting the hardware. I am sure you are aware that Final Cut Studio 3 is looming on the horizon as well.
 
netdog said:
You own Final Cut already? That alone would eat up most of your budget before getting the hardware. I am sure you are aware that Final Cut Studio 3 is looming on the horizon as well.
Click to expand...

Yes my dad is a director and he used it to piece his showreel together. I am fairly competent in final cut as I have had a lot of experience with Final Cut Express.

Im sure final cut studio 3 will be good and the upgrade will be something my dad will probably buy so this machine will essentially be running final cut studio 3.

I basically want a computer that will keep me going for several years possibly 3 or 4.

I have been browsing some second hand sites. Gumtree/craigslist/facebook and apart from the obvious scams I have seen a few 2x2.8 quads for sale with basic configuration which get snapped up pretty quickly for about £950-1250. Would this be a good idea.

What specs really shine in Final Cut Studio:
Motion - Graphics?
Colour - Graphics?
Compressor - Cores and clock Speed?
DVD studio Pro - Super Drive?
Final Cut - Clock?
Not really one for soundtrack but I assume - 0% graphics so 100%clock?

Thanks

Also does anyone know any good real world benchmarking in Final Cut Studio?

I've had a search on barefeats but there is nothing that helpful for my choice!

Thanks again
 
If you can get a 2.8 Octo in your budget with enough RAM, snap it up. What a fire-breathing beast. I have one with 8GB. I'm very impressed with its ability to render. Laptops and iMacs lag miles behind.
 
Can't Final Cut only "see" 3.5gb

I understand that if I had more I could have several programs open at once but I am likely to want to stick to a smaller budget at this point.
 
i'll go ahead & say up front, i have no experience w/ Final Cut. however, i am ripping video on a desktop & laptop currently, so i can offer an opinion on this.

i have a mac pro from a couple years ago & the latest rev of the macbook pro and i'm ripping my DVD's in handbrake. while the desktop admittedly does have twice the RAM of the laptop (4GB vs 2GB), it's waaay faster rendering the video. i'm using some of the filters in handbrake (decomb, in particular), which i would guess is similar to a lot of the rendering Final Cut does. i've been trying to notice the average fps for the both of them. the mac pro is consistently 2x to 2.5x the laptop.

apart from my very non-scientific study, i would vote for the desktop simply for hdd bays, extra ports, etc. the hard drives are typically faster and you'll def want to back those videos up.

i think you can totally find a year or two old mac pro w/in your budget. good luck...
 
sinisterdesign said:
i'll go ahead & say up front, i have no experience w/ Final Cut. however, i am ripping video on a desktop & laptop currently, so i can offer an opinion on this.

i have a mac pro from a couple years ago & the latest rev of the macbook pro and i'm ripping my DVD's in handbrake. while the desktop admittedly does have twice the RAM of the laptop (4GB vs 2GB), it's waaay faster rendering the video. i'm using some of the filters in handbrake (decomb, in particular), which i would guess is similar to a lot of the rendering Final Cut does. i've been trying to notice the average fps for the both of them. the mac pro is consistently 2x to 2.5x the laptop.

apart from my very non-scientific study, i would vote for the desktop simply for hdd bays, extra ports, etc. the hard drives are typically faster and you'll def want to back those videos up.

i think you can totally find a year or two old mac pro w/in your budget. good luck...
Click to expand...


Thanks for this.

I now just have to find one. Anyone know any other good places apart from gumtree ebay facebook?

I have found a 2.66GHz Mac Pro for under £1000.

Should I get this or hold on until I find a 2.8Ghz.

Am I right in thinking this is only a dual core so therefore there are 4 cores in total?

Any thoughts on this machine?

Thanks
 
Well, it's your money, but I'd be VERY tempted to get it, especially considering people are still asking around £600 for Dual 2Ghz G5s and over £1k for the 2.5Ghz
 
Sadly the guy has already sold it.

Not suprised at that price....

Hmm on the search again!
 
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